A Course in Miracles

This training program is unique in that it purports to be the product of a spirit dictation from Jesus Christ. The two individuals primarily responsible for originating this material, who wish to remain anonymous, were both respected professional psychologists on the staff of Columbia University Teacher's College, prior to the onset of the spirit dictation. Both told me in interviews that before they began working with the Course in Miracles, they were agnostics and shared no interest whatsoever in spiritual concerns. The following description of the beginnings of the Course in Miracles, presented by Judith Skutch in New Realities (Bolen 1977), ties in with the information I was given in interviews with "Dr. B" and "Dr. H" (a Jewish woman):

Judith Skutch Whitson, President, Foundation for Inner Peace

"They had been working together in a highly competitive academic setting for many years, and had developed a close friendship, which was sometimes strained by the stress-filled environment. One day Dr. B. unexpectedly announced that he was tired of the angry and aggressive feelings their attitudes reflected, and concluded that ‘There must be another way.' As if on cue, Dr. H. agreed to help him find it. Apparently this Course is the "other way." Three startling months preceded the actual writing, during which time Dr. B. suggested that she write down the highly symbolic dreams and descriptions of unusual images that were coming to her. Remember this was totally foreign to her background and personality. . . .

"Late one night Dr. H heard what she described as an ‘inner voice' that seemed to be urging her to take down what it would be dictating. When it started she was very frightened, and called Dr. B. on the phone to tell him what she had just heard. It was: ‘This is a Course in Miracles; please take notes.' She was panicky, and asked what she should do. He suggested that she should just take down whatever she heard, and they would look at it together in the morning. The next morning they started a way of working together that continued throughout the ‘scribing' of the course. Dr. 11. would write down what she heard in a shorthand notebook, and Dr. B. would type it unedited from her dictation. The writing itself was always under her conscious control, and never automatic. She could be interrupted at any time, and could just pick it up and go on later from where she left off. The words came so rapidly that she could hardly keep up with them even though she was proficient at shorthand.

"It took six years, and what emerged was three books. The first one is a text that lays the theoretical foundation for the Course's belief system. The next one is a workbook for students with a lesson a day for a year. The lessons are gently graduated so that they correct the student's misperception of reality, and bring him into an awareness of what he truly is. The third book is a manual for teachers, which raises many specific questions and answers them. It also has a glossary of specific terms the Course uses. When the dictation ended, there were some 1500 typewritten pages of material, and probably about 500,000 words.

Judith Skutch, who is well known for her fundraising activities in parapsychology, published the Course in Miracles volumes. The Course has had a large impact on professional people who might not otherwise find popular psychic training programs to their taste. Over 5,000 copies of the books are now in circulation.

The material is actually quite simple. The books are available for about $25 and nothing else is required in the way o further payments, instructors or classes (although some classes do exist). There are 365 different lessons which can be completed in a year, although they may take longer. The exercises involve only a few minutes' time each day, contemplating particular thoughts.

Although the Course in Miracles is framed in a traditional religious language and conceptual scheme, the teachers' manual explicitly states that "there are many ‘psychic' powers that are clearly in line with this course." Healing is particularly emphasized. The course text states that the real miracle is the love which inspires miracles. Beginning lessons in the Course in Miracles are designed to show the student that his perception of the world is totally colored by his own thoughts. Some of the early contemplations include the following thoughts:

"Nothing I see means anything."

"I do not understand anything I see."

"I am never upset for the reason I think."

"I see nothing as it is now."

"My thoughts are images that I have made."

"I do not perceive my own best interests."

"I do not know what anything is for."

The instructions state that the student need not believe any of these ideas in order to contemplate them. In fact, the instructions acknowledge that the student is likely to actively resist these thoughts. All that is required is that the student contemplate these thoughts in the manner specified. Later lessons involve contemplations of what seem to be orthodox religious terms:

"God is in everything I see."

"God goes with me wherever I go."

"God is my strength. Vision is his gift."

"God is the mind with which I think."

"I rest in God."

Miracles are then accomplished through the cultivation of basic religious ideals, as exemplified in the following thoughts for contemplation:

"Forgiveness offers everything I want."

"I bless the world because I bless myself."

"I have a function God would have me fill."

"I place the future in the hands of God."

"Love is the way I walk in gratitude."

"Fear is not justified in any form."

"Peace to my mind. Let my thoughts be still."

The most advanced contemplation seems to involve a complete surrender to the higher powers of God:

"This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You. Certain that Your direction gives me peace."

None of the contemplations in the Course on Miracles are explicitly designed for the production of specific psi abilities. The course implies that psi phenomena will be an outcome of the new orientation toward which the course is geared.